In two of the incidents, emergency slides deployed on a Turkish Airlines plane and a US Airways jet. In the third, the chutes did not deploy when a Delta Air Lines plane skidded off the runway after landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, coming to rest on a snow embankment near a fence just yards from the frigid waters of Flushing Bay. Passengers evacuated the plane by stepping onto the wing and then being helped to the ground.

Fortunately there were no fatalities in any of the three mishaps, but it nonetheless has shined a spotlight on a seldom-used, yet important, piece of airline equipment.

So we thought we’d bring you this two-year old video of how the emergency slides are manufactured, packed and compressed into a container within the airplane doors, and then deployed for use if needed.

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